I Wasn't on Some Campaign to Change the World, I Was a Drummer in A

Home , Buzzcocks, Crossfaith, Drummer, Drum Workshop, Iain Ballamy, Richard Colburn

Contents Masthead The Off

07 Loic maurin Apesanteur [Zero Gravity]

17 The Sum Of The Parts John Maher

28 Dropping Names Don Lombardi

35 Maximum Break Richard Colburn

44 Retirement Bill Bruford

49 Out On A Limb Contents A conversation with Eddie Prevost Issue One, December 2012 57 Rhythm As A Medium Ben Martin

62 Tatsuya Amano クロスフェイス [Crossfaith]

Subscriptions/Newsletter

Editor: Tom Hoare [email protected]

Art Director: Luke Douglas [email protected]

Web Editor: Andrew Jones

Contributors: Ben Martin, Iain Bellamy, Kate Darracott, Flora Hodson, Elspeth Leadbetter, John Maher, Julia Kaye, Jim Bevington

Thanks: Tim Wilson, Rew Kubayashi, Ryan Richards, BGM Rhythms, John Williamson, James Walker, Greg & Julia, Alex Sayles, Crystalline Connolley, Papillon Zamprioli, Needham Avenue, Glen Thomson

Contact:

Editorial: [email protected] Advertising: [email protected]

Cover: A preoccupation with time.

Reading note:

We’ve made this magazine to be readable online, without the need to zoom and MASTHEAD scroll. It looks best when viewed in full screen.

Issue One, December 2012 www

The proprietors and contributors to The Drummer’s Journal have asserted their right under the Copyright Designs and Patens Act 1988 to be identified as the owners and authors of this work.

THE OFF www

welve months ago, the brief conversation which sowed the seeds for The Drummer’s Journal occurred. It was between a good friend and myself. Having dredged out an assorted collection of drum magazines from under my bed, he selected a copy and Tread it cover to cover. He then picked up another and did the same.

After a prolonged period of silence he looked up and asked “How many drummers do you think there are in the world?” “I don’t know.” I replied. “Hundreds of thousands probably.” “So why do these magazines make it look like there are only 10?”

He was right. One issue after another - all akin, all unwavering. I couldn’t respond. I felt embarrassed on behalf of drummers everywhere. I hastily shovelled them back under my bed like they were seedy pornography.

The following day I sat down and thought about why I like playing the drum set. I concluded that it’s expressive. It allows for exploration, investigation and inquiry. It can inform and articulate. It can challenge, create, and discover. It can fuel debate. It is divergent and disparate. It is unique.

And so this is exactly what we wanted the magazine to be. All the things, as drummers, we like about what we do.

There are no reviews, buying guides or product tests. The web is already awash with plenty. Instead, there are only people and their opinions and insights as to how and why this instrument shapes their lives.

Independent. Online. Free. Welcome to Volume One, Issue One of The Drummer’s Journal.

Loic Maurin Apesanteur [Zero Gravity]

Words by Tom Hoare, photography by Luke Douglas • In 1965 France became the third country in the world to launch a satellite into space • It has its own national space program called CNES • It contributes the most money to the European Space Agency • France own a 28 per cent stake in the International Space Station

www

t is safe to say that the French take space exploration very seriously. This is just as well, because for Loïc Maurin and the band in which he plays, the last few Iyears have been positively stratospheric – though not in the literal sense. The release of M83’s sixth studio album Hurry Up We’re Dreaming made some of the most obnoxious and borderline fascist music critics roll over to let M83 rub their bellies. Its anthemic, electronic styling was lauded as an album of the decade, never to be bettered. Not exactly a throwaway statement given that the decade in question still has four fifths of its 10 years remaining.

I met Loïc in a small cafe in Paris’ third district. It’s a typical Parisian scene; the tables sprawl out onto the pavement encircled by people chatting, smoking and drinking. An awning hovers overhead.

Unable to spot Loïc and thinking I was slightly early, I eventually found him sat inside at a table partially obscured by an indentation of the café wall. A trivial observation perhaps, but apart from a few Zildjian promo videos, Loïc had been a hard man to research. Most M83 related media has been squarely focused, quite unsurprisingly, on the band’s founder and songwriter Anthony Gonzalez. Yet, Loïc has not been left behind in the metaphorical lunar orbiter whilst Anthony takes the giant leap. Despite a deceptively low profile, his playing speaks volumes. 09

Loïc Maurin: So, have you guys enjoyed Paris so far?

The Drummer’s Journal: It’s been great… Have you always lived here? Yeah, I grew up in the suburbs about 30 miles south of here. It’s really suburban. I moved to the centre about seven years ago.

How did you start to develop an interest in music? It was before school. My mum used to tell me that I really loved to hit stuff…

Were you a violent child? (Laughs) Yeah I guess! I had this toy drum set and it couldn’t have made me happier. I suppose then, I actually started drumming when I was around three.

That’s quite early! It is! Maybe it was just because I was surrounded by the music from the radio. Just really mainstream music.

Mainstream British music? Mostly. But the radio played lots of American music too. Obviously we have our mainstream French music as well, but I think it might be even more boring than British mainstream music. I’m proud of that!

So from there I guess you got a kit. Did you learn yourself, or was it more formal? Once I reached the legal age to take drum lessons my mum took me to this drum teacher. I was eight I think. I learnt a lot of rock and a lot of 80s music too because it was 1988. I loved to play along with Wet Wet Wet, Pink Floyd, Status Quo, and stuff like that. Boney M too.

I don’t know a lot about the French music scene… You’re not missing out (laughs).

Everyone seems to say that! Is that really true though? Well, we have a couple of really great artists, well, more than that. Maybe five or six. But they are the only ones I am proud of. That’s just my opinion of course.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL www “I tried to teach too. That didn’t go very well. I was a huge failure. I hated it. And I could tell the students hated it. But I definitely hated it more.” www 11

I think, in all fairness, the French have a good reputation for a Sorry, it was a joke. A bad one. Your English is at least as good lot of electronic music. as mine. Well, yeah I suppose. That started back in the 1970s with Jean Oh, well, thanks. So, I learnt mostly from listening to English Michel Jarre, who was more of a composer. Then we have this big records and watching American TV. gap of emptiness until Daft Punk and Felix show up. Why that is beats me. We don’t have many French records to listen to, or much French TV. Did you study music at school? (Laughs) Well, maybe I can give you a few! No. It’s not in the French culture to inject a lot of music into scholarship. It is definitely more of a British or American way to do Did you enjoy school then? things. It doesn’t really happen in France at all. Not really. I had a lot of friends but gradually people leave or move away. I found that, for me, school was only about meeting people. Why do you think that is? I hated listening to teachers. The last years of my scholarship were That’s a good question. I don’t know. Our culture is more into really boring. physics, mathematics and languages. When it comes to the Arts we stick to the basics. So, were you trying to become a drummer? Yeah. This will sound pretentious, but even though I only became a I was thinking about this before actually. A friend of mine professional drummer a few years ago, I have always played drums speaks French very well because he enjoyed it at school and then and never considered doing anything else. lived in Lille for a few years. I took the same lessons but I was always terrible. I think my experience of languages is similar to When you left school, how long was it from then until you that of the majority of people in the UK. Our grasp of foreign joined M83? languages isn’t great, where as in France it is. Lots of young Maybe four years. I was supposed to go to university, but I was people in France can speak English fluently. missing classes because I was not into it at all. Instead, I tried to I would say that the French are known for having the worst English find small gigs and I tried to teach too. That didn’t go very well. I in the world, considering we’re so close! But, when you compare was a huge failure. I hated it. And I could tell the students hated the average French person’s English to someone from Scandinavia, it. But I definitely hated it more. And they could tell I had no idea for example, there is a huge difference. There they start at such a what I was doing. Teaching and playing drums is a completely young age. different thing.

When did your English start to get good? Do you read music? I started at the age of 10. I still speak in broken English as you can I do yeah. I actually took something like 11 years of lessons, but I tell. was so lazy that probably I could have learned the same amount in about six years! (Laughs) But seriously though, I’m lazy. I’m lazy as Yeah, I thought your English might be better actually… fuck. What, really?

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL Did you try session stuff too? I did local gigs, stuff like that.

And that brought you to M83? Yeah I suppose it did. I joined a band when I was at the age of 20. It was a local band from where I grew up. The bass player was a producer as well. He was kind of well known, more so as a producer than as a bass player. So Anthony (Gonzales) came to him to produce the Before the Dawn album, which was the first album with live drums. He’d asked if there was anyone available to record live drums, and that’s where I stepped in.

Was there any inkling of the longevity that the band would have? Did you ever think, as a 20 year old, that you’d still be doing it another four albums down the line? www Not really. I had no idea what was going on. When I joined we were doing small venues - pubs and stuff like that. But what was interesting was the reception we got “I used to play a in America, even really early on. I still don’t really know how that happened. We certain kind of could go to all the major cities and do quite sizable gigs. But I wouldn’t have said eight years ago that I’d be here now. When I joined I’d already heard some of the stick on a certain stuff Anthony had done before as he’d already released two albums. I’d definitely kind of kit, then heard the Dead Cities album before I joined. A friend of mine put in on a record three weeks player. I didn’t really get it. I was just like ‘whatever’. The critical reception toward M83 has been overwhelmingly positive, and into rehearsals I consistently so which is quite unusual over so many albums. thought ‘what the I know, right? And the albums are all different.

fuck am I doing In what ways? with this stuff? It There has been an evolution from one album to the next. I think we understood how to go straight to where we wanted to go. I mean, there is nothing better than sounds like shit.’” a good chorus in a song. If you listen to Before The Dawn, there are no ‘real’ songs

www on there - from a structural perspective at least. Back in the day, Anthony was like ‘if I want to stick to this key on this keyboard for 10 minutes that is what I’m going to do’ and we’d all just be like ‘ok man, it’s your album, you do whatever you want to do.’ 13

So did things start to become more band orientated? shit.’ I played with 7A sticks - you know, the really thin ones. Just in For a while, yes. I tried to work on my technical skills, but as I said I guess in some ways, but in other ways, no. It’s still just the project terms of the gear I was using I got it all wrong, it was quite fucked before, I’m lazy as fuck. I really like to spend time playing music of one guy -Anthony. I’ve been involved for eight years now, but up. The same for the cymbals – I realised I needed to have bigger with other people rather than practising alone. For me music is a everything comes from his brain. cymbals. I think now I play about three times harder than I used social thing. I understood a few years ago that there are a lot of guys to play before because this kind of music needs a loud drummer. like Thomas Lang, who, although they are amazing, don’t really I wanted to ask you about your creative input… Before, I thought I was loud. I was not loud. Now I think I might be have any good gigs. Like, all that fusion rock stuff, I find it fucking It’s really, really limited. loud. So it shaped my playing, definitely. Especially when playing horrible. simple stuff. If you move your arm like this (raises arm high as if So Anthony just says exactly what is gong to happen with the holding up a drum stick) it adds to the visuals but it can add to the Have you listened to any of Dave Weckl’s solo stuff? drums? sound too. But you have to balance everything. That is what I’ve Once. I had to stop myself throwing up. Awful. But, it’s just not my Yeah, and pretty much all those weird drum fills are coming from learned from playing so many live shows. kind of music. The only band, in my opinion, who have managed to him. But, to do it this way is part of it. I really like it because those mix the technical aspects into really melodic and musical stuff was weird fills aren’t coming from a drummer’s brain. It’s too weird. I The Mars Volta. It’s still quite progressive but with great choruses. was like ‘ok, you have these weird ideas and I’ll turn them into www something a drummer can play.’ Usually, I’m like ‘wow, dude, that With regards to the electronic elements, is that something you idea is fantastic.’ I really like the way we are working. He always “Have you listened to had experimented with before M83 or did you have to learn has crazy ideas about everything including tom fills and stuff like any of ave eckl s that specifically? that. I could never have those ideas myself. I’m too drummer. You D W ’ I had to learn it, yes. I’m still an absolute beginner with it all. know what I mean? solo stuff?” Anthony used to take care of a lot of it, but now that we have a bigger production I have a tech who helps me out. So all I have A friend of mine used to make tracks in Pro Tools and just to do is switch to the electric department, which is just a Yamaha randomly program in the drums. He’d make these fills up, and “Once. I had to stop DTX. It triggers sounds from a laptop. because he was dragging random percussive sounds into random myself throwing up. slots, they used to sound insane, like nothing a drummer could ... using Ableton? actually come up with. I certainly couldn’t play them. Awful.” Yeah, just Ableton. We have an Ableton tech. He just sorts all the

Exactly. That weird stuff is part of the M83 sound, they’re crucial www Ableton stuff out. I really need that because a lot of it is like having to the M83 identity. And the more we play the more I see people someone speak Chinese to me – I really don’t get it. But I think it air drumming along to the songs and they’re maybe not even is important to know how to do it. That is advice to myself really. drummers. It’s way more musical than what I could have wrote Do you have stuff in the set you enjoy playing more than others? I need to learn more. But, for other people, it’ll really add some myself. My favourite songs to play are Reunion and Steve McQueen. But skills to your CV. It’s totally different from only playing acoustics. I also like another song called Year One, One UFO. Most of it is I think electronics can help you approach music in a completely Do you think you’ve learnt a lot during your time with the band, quite easy to play, but I’d never put really advanced level parts in different way. I mean, have M83 now shaped the way to play? M83 songs. It would make no sense at all. Yeah, definitely. Before I joined the band I used to play a certain So in terms of the actual sounds, do you have sounds you like kind of stick on a certain kind of kit, then three weeks into rehearsals So the technical aspect is never really something that preoccupied and don’t like? I thought ‘what the fuck am I doing with this stuff? It sounds like you? I’m pretty much up for anything really, as long as it fits.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL www

“Anthony was like ‘if I want to stick to this key on this keyboard for 10 minutes that is what I’m going to do’ and we’d all just be like ‘ok man,

it’s your album.’” www

Galaxy Messier 83

Do you trigger an acoustic kit? I think so. Are you endorsed? and Saturdays = Youth, I recorded the drums separately from the No, not at all. It’s a conscious choice to keep the acoustics acoustic Yeah, for drums its DW. They’re awesome. It’s been great because I cymbals. So, just kick, snare and toms, then I’d go back and do and have the electronics provide sounds on top of those. I mean, get stuff, not for free, but so it covers the costs. A lot of drum stuff cymbals. If you listen to those albums, there are no organic drum once or twice during the set the front of house engineer might is fucking expensive, usually too expensive. So DW really helped sounds, well, not many. For Saturdays = Youth, for example, there adjust the sound of my snare to fit the song better, but I have a me out. I get my cymbals from Zildjian who are really supportive. was a lot of editing and processing. We wanted a drummer to play really regular set up and it is supposed to sound like live drums. Do I’m really happy not to have to buy cymbals anymore. I mean, all the stuff but not to have an organic drum sound. But on the most you want another coffee? I did was send out sponsorship requests. I had to because a lot of recent album, Hurry Up We’re Dreaming, there are a lot more the big companies now are not coming to you so you have to apply organic sounds. The album’s producer, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, was Lovely. and go through a process which, sometimes, can take a long time. like ‘well, fuck it - lets play it live.’ I’d never done that before, it was Am I supposed mention all my sponsors now? very new to me. It was a good call, obviously. (Loïc leaves and returns with coffees and after a brief interlude discussing the advantages and disadvantages of extreme caffeine You can say what you like! How did you find the studios in Los Angeles? consumption the conversation returns to drums.) Ok, well I use Vic Firth sticks and Remo heads too. Dude, I shit my pants big time. They were my first LA sessions. I was terrified! I was stressed at the beginning, but gradually I got Ok, sorry, we were talking about my drum set? So has the recording process changed at all? better. I mean, I was recording live with Justin. I used to watch him So we used to record everything separately. For Before The Dawn playing live on the TV with Beck when I was 17. It was stressful.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 15

Everybody was talking to me in English and it’s a super big studio. There is always a chance that might come back in a few years, but But at the end of the day it worked. I’m really proud of what we’ve I feel like that’s behind us now. It is tiring and amazing at the same done on this album. time. Like now, for example, I’m enjoying my time at home in Paris, but part of me is looking forward to getting back on that bus. The response to that album was pretty intense. For example, the review on Pitchfork, they can be incredibly brutal… Did Anthony move to the states? Oh yeah, like, they can be really mean for nothing. Sometimes they Yes, he’s been out there for a few years now. don’t even make sense. But yeah, they liked it. You’ve never fancied it? But they weren’t alone. I honestly tried to find a bad review of Maybe! (laughs) I’ve never moved abroad before. it but I couldn’t. That has to have helped a lot. Yes, it helped massively. We had a really good slot at Coachella What about London? this year. Not a headline, but pretty close. A big deal for me will (Looks repulsed) London?! To be honest, it’s not my favourite city. be playing Brixton Academy on our upcoming tour. We actually You’re not from there are you? played it back in the day as support for Interpol. They actually invited us to open for them. No, so bad mouth it all you like. It’s just so big. I really like playing there, but, I think I’d much And touring is still something you enjoy? rather live somewhere on the coast, like Brighton. Well, there are a lot of aspects to touring. Sometimes, you can be done with all the people on the bus. Done with the music. When Brighton? I’ve never actually been. you’re in the middle of nowhere, sometimes I’m like ‘what the hell Really? am I doing here?’ It’s like ‘I’ve been on this bus for four weeks and there is still four weeks to go? I’ve got to play a show tonight that Really. is the same as the last one?’ I still enjoy it over-all but once every Oh, well, by the sea it’s lovely. two or so weeks I have a bit of a freak-out. It’s only human. But then you go ‘pull your shit together, you’re doing the best job in the Ok, but it’s not exactly French style ‘by the sea’ though is it? world.’ What I like is that I’ve seen it grow into this. We’re doing No, definitely not, but I like it because it’s different. the same tours and visiting the same places as when we did it in a crappy van, sleeping in shitty hotels and playing shitty venues.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL

THE SUM OF THE PARTS John Maher

n the small town of Leverburgh, in the west of the Hebridean isle of Harris, sits a small workshop. Inside, a man in his 50s dressed in a blue oil-stained boiler suit is standing over an engine listening to its vital signs. The engine, coughing and jerking violently, gradually Irelaxes and begins to idle steadily. Hand built by the man who tends it, it bears all the hallmarks of someone who has spent the last 20 years perfecting his trade.

Among the tools, shelving and machines sits an item which seems slightly out of place. In the corner of the workshop, covered in dust and half buried under cardboard boxes, a drum kit is partially visible, though it shows signs of neglect.

The man in the blue boiler suit is John Maher. In 1976, he joined a relatively unknown Mancunian band called Buzzcocks, and spent the next five years earning himself a reputation as one of the UK’s best punk drummers. He would be instrumental in the birth and implosion of one of the UKs most infamous musical movements, aspects of which would come to shape his life for the next 31 years. Don’t be fooled by the dust.

Words by Tom Hoare Photography by Kate Darracot & John Maher didn’t think you’d actually turn up,” shouts The workshop is roughly the size of a double garage, John from across the workshop. “I’ve kind with a small annexe that acts as an office, and another of got used to dealing with people at arm’s small room which contains a lot of technical looking “Ilength.” At least I think he said that. About two metres equipment for testing an engine’s performance. to my right sits a car engine connected to several large The door to the workshop looks out on to the ferry batteries making one of the loudest sounds I’ve ever terminal which consists of a concrete ramp descending heard. As if suddenly aware of this, he quickly motions into the sea and an old bus which has been converted to switch it off and the engine becomes silent. “Testing,” into a café. Beyond that, in the distance, is the isle of he grins. Ensay and then 2,000 miles of unbroken ocean until Newfoundland. What John A black wheelie bin in the www said about dealing with people corner bears the words ‘JM at arm’s length seems like an Racing’ written in white paint. “I went to see the understatement. It is the name of the business John now runs, custom headmaster and Despite the warm welcome building VW engines which said m leaving and some friendly small talk, he ships around the world. , ‘I’ I couldn’t help being aware of His workshop, in which I had school to join a John’s natural suspiciousness as just arrived, is like an Aladdin’s punk rock band to why someone would make cave for anyone happening .’ such a substantial journey to to be mechanically minded. talk to him. John had recently Unfortunately, I cannot claim He said that I was re-joined the Buzzcocks for two to be so given that my interest making a very big special shows that saw the band in metalwork was shattered by a return to its original line-up. school technology teacher who mistake.” The reunion had, in part, drawn told me that my presence in some stick from those that felt www his class simply amounted to “a the performances were let down waste of the school’s resources.” by Buzzcocks’ guitarist Steve Keen to dispel my ignorance, however, I walk over to a Diggle being overly drunk and overtly disrespectful to huge machine situated in the corner and announce that some of the returning members on stage. The reunion, it is a lathe. “Correct,” comes the reply, then a slight given the rather disagreeable nature of the Buzzcocks’ pause. “That’ll kill you that will if you start it up with breakup in 1981, which excommunicated John from his the chuck key in.” Slowly stepping away, I am, from former band mates for a length of time best measured in that point onward, less keen to discuss the functions of decades, was something I had been keen to talk about, the myriad of machines and tools which populate the though I was worried John might interpret this as Sunset over Tarbert floor space. simply digging for gossip or controversy about Diggle’s Harbour, Harris 19 performance. The truth is that I wasn’t particularly interested the images I mean. Cue a few shots of striking unions, police supply. So he mastered the basics by air drumming along to “some in Diggle, more so the mechanics or readdressing something so brutality and John Lydon telling someone to fuck off and you’ve cabaret singer on those shitty Saturday night entertainment engrained in his youth after a period of 30 years. got a romantically mediated account of 1970s Britain all rolled programs,” before renting a drum kit from his local music shop into 60 minutes. Whilst such images are by no means irrelevant, for 10 pounds and responding to an ad he came across in Melody Sitting on two drum stools in what was the only real clear floor the reality is that the punk movement was more diverse than it is Maker. “That was the first ad I ever contacted,” he explains, “and it space in the workshop, I take out a dictaphone and place it on often given credit for. was the Buzzcocks. I joined in 1976. I remember the day Howard top of a nearby toolbox. I ask a few generic questions about Devoto, Buzzcocks’ original singer, came round to see me. The first growing up in Manchester. At first, his responses are quite short At school John studied classical guitar for his Music O level, and thing I said to him was, “What sort of music is it?” He replied, and generalised. He sits with both arms and legs crossed which is only began playing drums because he noticed, after consulting the “high energy rock.” He didn’t stay long because I had just come classic body language for “I don’t want to talk about this,” and casts musicians wanted ads in the back of Melody Maker, that demand home from school at lunchtime and I was going back to do my occasional, suspicious glances at the device recording our words. To for drummers, as opposed to the demand for guitarists, outstripped Chemistry O Level. I sat and passed my break the ice, I knew John harboured O Levels and got into sixth form and a distaste for prog rock band ELP and rehearsed with Buzzcocks. talking about bands you dislike can ‘leverburgh Ferry Port’ - prove to be a humorous conversation. John Maher “In September ‘76 I started my first Sure enough, listening to him talk year of sixth form, but I had to take about Carl Palmer’s super group was the occasional day off because we’d be no exception, as he jokingly describes off down to London doing another gig growing up in a somewhat Orwellian with the Sex Pistols. I was getting very world where inescapable exposure to much into the music side of things and Hammond organs and golden capes are the prospect of studying Maths, Physics the tools by which the masses are kept and Chemistry at school was becoming in abject misery. After this, he relaxes less appealing. Ultimately, I stayed in and begins to talk more openly, and the the sixth form until the following April, dictaphone begins to resemble another that would be ‘77, and that’s when grey tool on a workbench. I decided ‘that’s it’. I went to see the headmaster and said ‘ I’m leaving school Early Days to join a punk rock band’. He said that I was making a very big mistake. I had or someone who was instrumental a promising future career as something in the development of Britain’s or other, I cant remember what. After most recognisable punk bands, that, Buzzcocks went off on a support Fa lot of aspects of John’s life contradict slot with The Clash on the White Riot the increasingly stereotypical images tour and it became my proper job … and ideals often associated with late kind of.” 1970s punk. If you’ve ever seen an MTV punk documentary you know

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 20

Buzzcocks

etween 1976-1981 John played on three studio albums; Another Music in a Different Kitchen (1978), Love Bites (1978) and A Different Kind of Tension (1979) all released by United Artists. Prior to their involvement with a major label, however, their first recordings appeared on an EP entitled Spiral Scratch (1977); now recognised as the first Bindependently released punk record in the UK. According to John, it was “funded by a £500 loan from Pete Shelley’s dad.” Unlike some of their counterparts, Buzzcocks were particularly proficient at playing their instruments and in particular, the bands rhythm section, which consisted of John and bassist Steve Garvey, is now recognised as one of the greatest rhythm sections to emerge out of punk music. As John talked about his experiences recording and touring, it became clear that he invested a lot of himself into the music, and was seldom concerned with the band’s image or politics.

“My favourite Buzzcocks release is still Time’s Up, a collection of early recordings and bootlegs. It’s rough round the edges, but in a really good way. For me, the very first time we went into a recording studio, once we had signed a deal with United Artists, it just seemed like the energy got sapped out. I think a lot of those record producers will be different these days, but there was this approach that we had to isolate this instrument from this instrument, and they’d spend ages going round the kit saying, ‘What’s that creaking? We need to get rid of that.’ Everything was damped down so much the drums end up sounding like cardboard boxes. I suppose it’s like making a film. You might have a fantastic story and some great actors, but if it doesn’t quite all work, the end result is… If it was dead easy, if everybody knew what the magic formula was, every film in the world would be fantastic and every album would be. But fortunately, there are a lot of elements you can’t control that go towards making something really good. Thank god people can’t just press a button and churn them out.”

I have a book which is, in effect, an encyclopaedia of different drum grooves and styles. On the whole it is quite impressive regarding the detail into which it goes. The exception is page 124. On this page, in between the headings Polka and Rock is the word “Punk”. It lists two examples.

www

ex 01: ex 02:

Tempo 120-220 bpm

That is it. That is all it says. And in a certain light it’s correct. These rhythms, because of their simplicity, could be played at speed by people with little or no previous playing experience. In another, it contributes to the notion that punk leaves little room for musicianship or musical diversity.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 21

Below is a transcription of John’s playing on the song Moving Away From The Pulsebeat. There is a lot more to John’s playing than speed and simplicity, and probably partially accounts as to why he came second to Keith Moon in NME’s best drummer poll in 1978.

www

The next groove is from the song Why Can’t I Touch It? followed by the groove which inspired it, adapted from a song by the German band Can, though John couldn’t remember the name.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 22

Rose Tinted Spectacles and Their Removal evaporate quite quickly and then, when the Sex Pistols imploded after Sid Vicious’ suicide, it just turned into a farce. here is little doubt that John is a talented drummer and I wondered if, having since pursued and been successful in a “The notoriety that the Pistols thrived on, you can’t maintain that for different field, his time spent in Buzzcocks held any nostalgia. long because people get bored of it. A good example is John Lydon, TThere was a long pause between me asking the question and his or Jonny Rotten as was. When the Pistols were over he went on to response. In the prolonged silence, as he shifted uncomfortably form Public Image. When that first Public Image album came out on his seat, I thought, momentarily, that I’d touched a nerve. His it was such a move away from punk and probably one of the best reply, however, was the most extensive and unbroken he gave to any albums around at the time. It was incredible! He didn’t decide to go question. It was as follows. on and become some parody of himself, even though at times he’s done that since. Instead, that album captured that original innovation “When we split in ‘81, it was quite a shock at the time. I had joined and energy, without having to wear a bin liner and stick a safety the band at 16, and by the time I was 21 it was finished. That was pin through your nose to make it punk. I mean, you couldn’t walk my first job and it was all I’d known. It was Pete Shelley, the guitarist, down the King’s Road in London without tripping over people with leaving that brought about the demise of the band. In hindsight you pink Mohicans. I remember the post cards – a punk stood next to a can see, maybe, 12 months prior to Beefeater, it just became a load of the split, the spark had gone anyway www bollocks! One of my favourite punk and like a lot of bands there is a bands of all time, one of the best natural lifespan. Buzzcocks weren’t “That energy which live performances I ever saw was intended to be a U2 or Rolling Alternative TV fronted by Mark Stones. We had a lifespan and it inspired all that stuff to Perry. I always admired him because petered out. Nothing special about happen seemed to evaporate he edited the first punk fanzine that. Sniffin’ Glue. Alternative TV were quite quickly completely different and they “I think when the punk thing ” supported us at The Roundhouse in first hit it was like an explosion of www London once - they were fantastic. energy onto a scene that had gone A lot of the people who thought quite stagnant. It’s like being an they were getting on the punk bandwagon were too small-minded to MP in opposition. You can make some great speeches and get all the appreciate it. That was the really good stuff; not the cut-out-and-keep applause and then the next thing you get voted in and you become how to start a punk band like something in the Daily Mirror. It grew the man who cops all the criticism. When punk became the hot tiresome. ticket, getting in the papers and stuff, there were a lot of identikit punk bands appearing on the scene. I don’t particularly like criticising “But my opinion has changed on it over the years. The split wasn’t a people, but take, for example, a band like the Boom Town Rats. They friendly thing. There was a lot of animosity. I never spoke to Pete for were labelled as a punk band and it just sort of turned into a bit of a years and years after that, you kind of hold these grudges, but then as joke. You’ve got a guy on the piano wearing his pyjamas and a trilby time passes by it becomes water under the bridge and your opinion hat. That energy which inspired all that stuff to happen seemed to

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 23 changes. Looking back at it now, I see it as something I was involved in, Reunion and I’m proud of the part I played in it. It doesn’t make me wish that everyday could be like 1976 again; I’m not that stupid. I don’t look at 992, prior to the recent Back to Front Buzzcocks reunion, was it through rose tinted spectacles. Most of it was just like normal life, the last time John had spoken to or seen his former band mates. some of it was crap, some I wondered how his relationship with music had changed during 1that 20-year period, having focused his attention on JM Racing. I ask www of it was great. At the end of the day I was just some him if he ever stopped considering himself a drummer, to which he responds by asking, “Can you ride a bike?” “I remember the school kid who ended up in a punk band who honestly “I can, yes.” post cards – a had no clue. I wasn’t on punk stood next some campaign to change “Have you ever stopped considering yourself a cyclist?” the world, I was a drummer to a Beefeater, in a band, a little unit, a “Well, I suppose not, no” gang of people. We’d travel it just became a With his point made, I ask www around in a transit van and if he ever missed being in a load of bollocks do a gig, we’d turn up and ” band. Again, he responds it was all happening, and I “That was the www with a question. had no political or ulterior really good motives behind it at all.” “Do you mean do I miss stuff not the being in any band, or do I ; After the split, John spent a couple of years doing session work in mostly miss being in Buzzcocks? in Manchester and Liverpool. He then sold his kit, and never touched cut-out-and-keep the drums for a “long, long, long time afterwards.” I ask why he didn’t “Er ...” how to start a continue working as a session musician, especially as that type of work can be hard to come by and he seemed to be making a living from it. “The Buzzcocks thing I punk band like see as, certainly with the something in the “Some of the session type stuff I was doing was all very rigidly structured, reunion shows, a greatest hits cold and very clinical to me. It didn’t leave much room for creativity package. It’s a jukebox from Daily Mirror.” because you’re reduced to a person providing a specific part. I suppose the past but with the people www I don’t like it because my introduction to music was being dropped in on stage.” at the deep end, spontaneity, creating your own stuff. I just felt like an ingredient in the mix. Particularly when you’re performing live, if you’re “So it’s a nostalgia thing again?” not into it I think it comes across in your playing. It’s not fair on me because I’m not enjoying it. It’s certainly not fair to the others in the “It is yeah. I would say the vast majority of people who were at those band, but most of all it’s unfair to the audience. So when I get to that shows were there to hear the tunes they know. I know the band in its stage with music I opt out.” current format have recorded albums and there is a loyal following for that. The truth is, however, and this is the whole reason the Back to

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 24

Front shows came about, that in order to fill venues the size of He’s not simply a greatest hits jukebox - it’s his career. I don’t think I ask if he enjoyed the reunions, and he says that he did very much. Manchester Apollo and Brixton Academy the Buzzcocks needed he liked the fact that it was the old boys greatest hits jukebox that For a while, we talk about the five months practice he did to get to put on something a little bit extra compared to what the line back into shape for the gigs. It becomes apparent that John took up now does. So getting back Howard Devoto, Steve Garvey and www preparing quite seriously, another reflection of how, like the engines myself and doing those old tunes was what allowed Buzzcocks to he builds, he wants to do justice to the things with which he is perform in front of crowds that size in those two venues. Say I involved. This is perhaps why, given that the reunion marked John’s wanted to go and play drums tonight with somebody, I’d be more “I wasn’t on some first public performance behind the drum set in nearly 20 years, he interested in playing stuff like what’s coming out of the stereo now campaign to change the seemed slightly put out by Diggle’s behaviour. I realise that I was (drum and bass) otherwise I might as well join a covers band and perhaps wrong to dismiss it as unimportant, as to John, it clearly do weddings.” world, I was a drummer was important. “If you’ve been following Buzzcocks from day one, in a band, a little unit, and a lot of people at the shows were that type of person then the I ask him how he feels the gigs went. “My opinion of the gigs now Back to Front thing is a big deal. What saddens me is people talking is different to when they actually happened, and that’s because of a gang of people.” about it on the Internet, saying, “I wasn’t there and I’m really glad the bleeding Internet. I don’t want to drag down on Steve Diggle, I didn’t go now.” Well if you weren’t there and you can’t make up www but to be fair, he fucked up big time in a few places because he your own opinion, are you prepared to let other people make up was pissed. Internet wise, I got a little bit of an insight into what you opinion for you?” might have been going on in his head. There was a video interview brought the big crowd in and he dealt with it in the way that he with Steve prior to the Back to Front shows, so it was clear to me, did. I wish I had known more about what was going on in his head At this point, a van pulls into the yard in front of the workshop. after seeing that, that Steve had a resentment against the old boys before the event because its something we could have had a talk It’s the postman delivering the post. As John goes out to collect it, coming back because he’s out working away doing new material. about, but it’s done now.” I am reminded where we are. When he returns, I ask him what it

‘Leverburgh Jetty’ - John Haher

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 25 was about Harris that had made him move here, and he says there school. I suppose it comes down to the fact that if I get sufficiently have endured. When we first met, he apologised for the clutter but was no real reason he could think of. fired up that I want to do something, I’ll go and do it. With the insisted he couldn’t have it any other way. drums, I’ll hold my hands up quite clearly; I could never step in for “Was it just having lived in the city for a long time?” Carl Palmer. There are an awful lot of bands that I’d be completely John also talked about his interest in drag racing. At one point, wrong for. I couldn’t, technically and physically, do a lot of the he not only built the engines but also raced the cars. He says he “I don’t know really. Lets say I hadn’t joined Buzzcocks, and stuff that these other drummers do. But, there are certain types of stopped racing because he didn’t need to see his name on a results accepted that job as an insurance clerk in the Methodist Insurance music, Buzzcocks being one of them, that I was ideally suited too. board to know he’d made a good engine. In many ways it reaffirms Company, who knows whether I would have ended up here.” Maybe that’s because Buzzcocks shaped me and I had a bit of input how surprisingly egoless John is as a person. A lot of people who experience success become embroiled with the task of maintaining We went on to talk about John’s more recent interest in photography, back. If I get enthusiastic I really get into it. If I’m not enthusiastic it, and the failure to do so becomes an affront to the ego. There many of which are landscapes of Harris. He said he enjoyed about something I can’t pretend.” is absolutely no reason why he couldn’t continue making a living photography because he can take his camera and tripod out in I think John is most likely right about what he said about Buzzcocks by playing drums today. He doesn’t however, because he has no the evening and come back with shots he is quite happy with. He shaping him, though not in an obvious or clichéd sense. Punk’s ego to feed. As a drummer and a person, he is comfortable not points out that a lot of his interests; the drumming, photography image, politics and reputation, with which the tabloid press would continuously competing to better his previous achievements. and mechanics have been self-taught. “I can learn from books, I become effectuated, held little or no meaning for John. Instead, I can learn from the Internet. Lots of people like to be taught by got the sense that for him, Buzzcocks was about doing something The drum kit in the corner now doesn’t seem so out of place. I get somebody, I don’t particularly like that - I like teaching myself. he enjoyed and being able to do it, for the most part, on his own the feeling that, if it didn’t need to be there, it probably wouldn’t I didn’t do metal work at my school, it was a Catholic grammar terms. Looking around John’s workshop suggests that these traits be.

Luskentyre Beach, Harris, looking West

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 26

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL

DROPPING NAMES Don Lombardi

Words by Julia Kaye 29

hough you might not realise it, Don Lombardi has influenced the way you play drums. He has done this, in all likelihood, without you ever having heard him play. If you were to Google This name, you’d learn that a man also called Don Lombardi is CEO of a company concerned with Pediatric Innovation. You won’t find any videos of him performing a 10-minute improvisational solo, or see any ads selling his latest instructional DVD or book. It’s also quite likely that, should you feel inclined to check the liner notes of your favourite albums, he will not be mentioned. Yet, had he chosen a different career path, it is likely that the drum set at which you often sit would be www slightly more primitive in its design.

In 1972, Don started a company called Drum Workshop (DW) and “I started playing less would go on to design and patent drums and hardware that would and less and then change not only the industry, but the way people could physically play the instrument. More recently, he founded a separate company called virtually not at all. I Drum Channel. It’s an online tuition service that boasts a faculty so was working a seven- formidable it makes the members of The Dirty Mac look like bumbling amateurs. day week doing eight to 10 hours a day The Drummer’s Journal: So, how’ve you been? Don Lombardi: Good, I’ve got lots going on, though these are trying to run the challenging times. Everybody seems frightened about the economy and business without any additionally I’m trying to figure out the Internet as we go! I think people are also starting to realise that quality online resources can’t always be outside funding.” free. www Have you been pleased with the reception Drum Channel has received so far? I mean, like DW at the beginning, it’s a huge success because everybody loves it. I’ve done little or no marketing really and getting the word out there has just been through word of mouth. With Drum Channel, because I still do all the R&D for DW too, splitting myself between the two was the initial idea but I’ve been spending a disproportionate amount of my time in getting Drum Channel up and running.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 30

No major issues then? There are some structural issues. When you deal with web developers you have to tell them what you want and you hope you get it in two or three months. Also, the struggle is getting 10 to 25 year olds to pay for anything online. Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy with the response we’ve had. So it’s exciting and www encouraging but there’s still trouble, financially, to get the amount of people that we need signed up to make it a “Their goal was to successful model. But we’ve got some dominate the American real fun stuff on the drawing boards. drum industry back in the One of the first things I noticed late 1970s and early ‘80s. was just how much stuff you’ve actually done career wise. You’ve They saw it as a very labour been a product designer, a CEO, an entrepreneur, a professional intensive industry. They drummer and an educator, all were looking at Ludwig, umbrella terms I suppose, but which one describes you best? Slingerland and Rogers I think this is true of many drummers; paying seven, eight or nine if I had to fill out a resume and state what I do I would say I play drums. dollars an hour when they I mean, in recent years, that hasn’t were paying 60 or 70 cents been my career path; that’s not where I’m getting my pay-cheque. I started an hour in Taiwan.” playing when I was nine. When I was www 11 we found a good local pro drummer who was teacher. I bought a hi-hat and became entrenched in playing jazz ride cymbal patterns on it. I didn’t even care about getting the rest of the set.

In the early days I studied with Nick Ceroli, then with Freddie Gruber. After that I studied with Colin Bailey, mostly on Joe Morello’s technique.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 31

Then, right out of high school, I started playing professionally. fickle, but DW seem to have weathered the storms quite well… Back in those days there was so much studio work in LA. I would I was once approached in the late 1980s by one of our competitors, never consider myself a studio musician but I did enough studio one of the biggest drum companies in the world, and they came work, along with travelling and touring with bands, to make a over at a NAMM show and asked, ‘who does your marketing?’ I living. I always taught from the time I was 16 onwards. I think said, ‘we just sit around once a month and come up with ad ideas.’ because I had good teachers they also taught me how to teach. I don’t think they believed me. They thought I was trying to keep When my son was born I didn’t want to travel anymore, so I built whoever we had doing our marketing a secret. Then I thought, up 40 or 50 students and consolidated them into my own location DW doesn’t even have a marketing department, it’s always been to save me a lot of driving time. So, this was the start of DW. I me telling a message. I really don’t think you can sell a drummer would have friends and major drummers come in once a month anything. Fortunately, our competitors look at the business they’re and do these workshops and educational seminars. Shelly Manne, in as solely economics. Ed Shaughnessy, Freddie and some more great drummers in the LA area would come in once a month and do a clinic, which was And how do you see it? kind of a new thing in those days. But, I still ended up doing a You’ve got to to look at in terms of innovation, and also the fact lot of travelling which taught me my first business lesson: If you that our competitors didn’t have their finger on the pulse of what have your own location and you’re not there making money you the consumer was looking for. Their goal was to dominate the still have to pay the rent! American drum industry back in the late 1970s and early ‘80s. They saw it as a very labour intensive industry. They were looking So we started doing sales out of there too. John Good, current at Ludwig, Slingerland and Rogers paying seven, eight or nine DW Vice President, was one of my students and he would come in dollars an hour when they were paying 60 or 70 cents an hour during the day and I traded him drum lessons for his time to run in Taiwan. They put a lot of investment into it, trying to buy a little bit of a drum shop, which is something I never envisioned out the market, paying people left and right, doing all kinds of getting into. One of my student’s fathers owned Camco and he rebate programs with dealers. So over a period of a few years the decided to sell that business and sold me all the tooling dies and American companies started struggling and they started being sold moulds. My first invention was an adjustable trap case seat in the off to other larger corporations. Again, that opens up the door to ‘70s. I always thought it’d be a hobby and that I’d continue as a problems. It might give a company more financial strength, but professional musician. But by the 1980s DW had got so big we it cuts down your ability to make decisions which are in the best had to move to a lower cost area so we moved about an hour and interest of the consumer because the decisions always have to be a half out of LA. It was getting to difficult to keep burning the in the interest of what’s the most profitable. candle at both ends, driving back and forth, so I started playing less and less and then virtually not at all. I was working a seven- So basically, in the 1980s, when I started with no money and day week doing eight to 10 hours a day trying to run the business looked for investment, I was told ‘You’re nuts. Three American without any outside funding. drum companies have already gone under, the Japanese companies are dominating, interest rates are at 19 per cent and you want It’s quite easy to overlook the fact that there is an economy to start a drum company?’ We weren’t a drum company at the behind drum production. Economies, of course, are famously beginning. We made pedals for the first six or seven years, but we Drum Pedal Patent: The Don

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 32

Drum Pedal Patent: The Don

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 33 didn’t make any money at all. We borrowed a lot and I was still instrument and so those drums have to speak on their own but that we’re experimenting with. In terms of sound quality, four or working nights teaching. The thing that financially made us a real also fit in together with the rest of the drums in that particular set. five years ago I never thought we could get a lower fundamental business was when we took what had existed as a double pedal and This is where the idea of timbre matching the shells came in. The than what we are currently getting from a DW drum set until we made improvements on it to make it a viable part of a drummer’s problem with this is you then have to put that whole set through hit on the eggshell and now it’s down nearly two more octaves. The drum set. I had a patent that I wasn’t able to protect because I didn’t production. Other companies will do all 10” drums one day then way that you lay up the plys on the shell, the quality of wood, the have the money, but I knew we had something that was unique and 12” the next then 14” the next day which is much more efficient. bearing edges that you put on, again, I’m sure there is going to be would have an impact on the drummers who played it. If you’re painting one drum set one colour, and you can paint it in developments in those areas. 45 minutes but it takes another 45 minutes to clean the gun, clean When you have a product which is revolutionary, and you have the room and switch to the next colour of paint, you could have I guess that brings us back to Drum Channel quite nicely, and competitors who are 100 times bigger than you, their tendency painted 50 drum sets the same colour in the same time frame. It’s the idea of the evolution of technical ability too… is to just copy it. You then have to legally go through the expense a much smaller way to produce a kit, which is often why our lead I always wanted to get back into education, and to make it of protecting your patent. I didn’t have the money to do that so times are painfully long, but there is no way we can get around inexpensive and accessible. A subscription to Drum Channel is only we decided to license them. We licensed Tama, Pearl and Yamaha that. a few dollars which is nothing for us here – we’re buying Starbucks which allowed them to make a double pedal with the plates under lattes for more than that. In other parts of the world, however, if both sides and the universal joints. you’re only making 20 dollars per month then it becomes an issue. www We want to keep the price down so every student can have access. Speaking from a manufacturing standpoint, what would be the main differences now in being able to produce products from “you’re nuts. Three American Does the increasing availability of online content mean when you started? drumming, as a potential career, is becoming more achievable Painfully, there’s very little difference. On the hardware side, what drum companies have already than it used to be? is particularly exciting is that in the last couple of years we’ve been gone under, the Japanese Well, it’s give and take. It’s more difficult to be, quote, ‘a drummer’ able to invest in some machinery and modelling equipment where now, and to make a career solely as a drummer. That still happens of we can, within days, fabricate samples and prototypes to see if an companies are dominating, course, just not as much. In order to continue to be successful, all idea is feasible or not. In the past this would have taken months. interest rates are at 19 per the great drummers, particularly the older guys, take steps toward As far as drums go, they are still handmade instruments and John learning how to compose, how to produce, how to write and picks out the shells. We have some machinery that automates a cent and you want to start a have a musical career in conjunction with being a great drummer. lot of the manual processes such as drilling the holes in the shell. drum company?” Certainly it’s important to be a great drummer, but to make a living With a CNC machine, it’s always perfect, no mistakes. But when at it, it’s important to branch out and be everything that a record it comes down to sanding, lacquering, buffering, bearing edges and www company used to be. Whatever income you can get as a professional assembly that’s all done by hand and virtually no different to what drummer, you’ll get 10 times that if you can get writing royalties. it was before. The thing we do that sets us apart but creates a huge Making a living at drumming is more challenging but becoming a manufacturing problem is we produce the entire kit at once. Have People say that the drum kit is still quite a young instrument. really good drummer is much easier. At the end of the day, there’s you toured the factory? From when you started you’ve seen the drum set change quite 80,000 channels on TV and nothing to watch. I’d sooner log on significantly since then. Do you see potential for it to change and see what the guys on Drum Channel are doing. No, I haven’t… further? Well, we believe that a drum set of four, five, six or 12 pieces is an There will always be change. We’ve got a couple of bizarre possibilities

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL

MAXIMUM BREAK Richard Colburn

Do you want another beer?” The question So, I want to stress that it was only when the catches me slightly off guard; I’d lost track of the conversation turned to the events of 1996 that my conversation. Had I been gritting my teeth? Shit, thoughts momentarily lapsed. Whilst Richard talked “I hope not. Listening back to my hesitant response about how his introduction to drumming had been through the dictaphone was cringe worthy. “Sure, recording an album many people now consider to be thanks.” one of the finest albums ever made, I was reminded of my own first encounter as a young child, staring Perhaps I should make something clear. It was not perplexed as to why the Nintendo shaped present I had the quality of the conversation which was responsible expected actually resembled a drum kit. To me, that for my distraction, nor do I make a habit of ignoring tiny Kestrel four piece was an imposturous usurper, interviewees. Given that Richard Colburn has spent unwanted and unloved. the last 16 years playing drums in a band called Belle and Sebastian it is safe to say he is by no means By way of contrast, this lead me to assume that uninteresting. In fact, only five minutes previous, he 1996 was a good year for Richard Colburn. After all, had been evaluating the finer points of techniques the album about which he is speaking is Belle and spearheaded by Murray Spivak aided by an invisible Sebastian’s debut Tigermilk. It represents the beginning drum set and some quite impressive sound effects. of an enviable drumming career which would come to span several other seminal albums, relentless touring Sat in the corner of a Glaswegian pub nursing a pint of and sell out performances at many of the world’s most Staropramen, he looks like he has an interesting story iconic venues, all born from the love and appreciation or two to tell. His 42 years have contributed nicely of an instrument that captivated him from the off. Or to the authenticity of the beard adorning his lower so I assumed. mandible whilst not dispelling the mischievous grin which regularly spreads across his face during passing conversation. Words by Tom Hoare 36

The Opening Frame “So becoming a drummer wasn’t a case of childhood aspiration and personal fulfillment then?” “Far from it,” he answers. “I was probably about 25 before I started playing with any ambition. I was a t’s funny how things work out.” I nod in agreement. “I got my first kit when I was 11, but really late starter, a really, really late starter. It’s kind of funny because my first experience of drumming I never really touched it. My whole family are musical. I’m actually a fourth generation was recording in a studio. It’s odd because a lot of people play for years and years and then something drummer – my dad was a drummer, his dad was a drummer and his uncle was a drummer. happens to them. With me it was the opposite, I just started and it was in a studio, so I could hear “IMy granddad owned the oldest music shop in Scotland. I was the message boy in the shop, but every nuance and what’s good and bad about yourself and it’s like ‘Jesus! Argh!’” He recoils with a sometimes when you’re force fed something as a kid you want to do the opposite…” He pauses for horrified expression before continuing. “The problem is you don’t know how to fix it because you a second before continuing. don’t have the experience. I was thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?!’ I mean Tigermilk was done in a week. You can probably hear it’s a bit rushed. There were definitely “I remember playing five instruments when I was at school – violin, www no inklings of success because I couldn’t really play, it was just kind trumpet, piano, orchestral percussion…” Another pause. “Something of thrown together. We had no idea it was going to get released, we else too, I forget, and then I gave them all up at a certain point because weren’t even that bothered, it was more like, ‘My God, we’re maybe it was too much, so I ended up, bizarrely enough, almost becoming a “With Belle and going to have a record, there might only be a thousand copies, who pro snooker player. That was a sort of rebellion against the music – I Sebastian, the ethos cares if anyone buys it, I’ve got my name on something’ – that was the found I was quite good at that.” He sits back and takes a drink. we’ve had is if you’re ambition.” I’d never really have considered snooker a form of teenage revolt prior never in fashion Alterations talking to Richard. For a lot of people I suppose the drum set is the rebellion – it easily lends itself to being loud and invasive. Snooker, or you’re never out of t was at this point I noticed that I was now not the only one at least, any snooker matches I have witnessed, tend not to be wrought listening to Richard speak. The small room in which we are sat is with adolescent angst. If ever Steven Hendry had a Slayer badge sewn fashion.” a sort of annexe to the main bar area and so the resulting decrease into his waistcoat he kept it well hidden. Iin ambient noise means exchanges are easily overheard. There are only www three or four other tables in this room, and ours was positioned in front “I guess, for people on the outside looking in, maybe backwards isn’t of a set of French doors which opened onto more outdoor seating. The the word, but my case is the opposite. I was brought up with music so the thing that was unattainable other seats had remained pretty much vacant, or so I thought until I noticed that the people who was all around me. It was normal, so I ended up doing other things. It was in my early 20s when I now occupied them were looking eagerly over to our table following the conversation. The occupants started playing again in a local band in Perth, but I soon got fed up of that too. I wanted to go into seated around a small table through the open doors, having all previously had their backs turned, now the music industry in a different way. I worked in a few bars, did sound engineering at a college in all mysteriously faced into the room. Perth then found out about a music business course at Stow College in Glasgow. Prior to the interview I had wondered about Richard’s public profile. For a long time the band refused “When I moved through to Glasgow I ended up in a flat with Stuart David, an original member of to do interviews. “Dylan did it and it worked for him,” was the explanation. Whilst this policy would Belle and Sebastian. He was writing songs with Stuart Murdoch, another original member, and they’d change, and many of the band’s members would begin appearing in interviews for a wide variety of rehearse in the flat. I remember the guy who was due to play drums didn’t turn up. I was just sitting fanzines, magazines and newspapers, it dawned on me that, on my way to the pub where we had around so they said, ‘Do you want to play?’ And I was like, ‘If I have to.’ So I ended up, somehow, arranged to meet, I was unsure what he looked like given that the most recent picture I could find of playing drums for them. But I wasn’t really there to do that, I wasn’t bothered actually.” He grins and him was probably taken at least 10 years ago. sits back in his chair.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL www “My limbs and my muscles have changed, everything has changed about me.” www 38

In part, these notions formed one of two reasons I had been interested to hear Richard talk about his Perceptions development as a drummer. Firstly, his playing would become more polished with each subsequent album, mirroring the development of Belle and Sebastian as a band. Secondly, and inversely, whilst the e spend the next 15 or so minutes talking about notions of style, and a few familiar names profile of the band would escalate, Richard would remain in relative anonymity. Belle and Sebastian begin cropping up. These range from technical virtuosos such as Freddie Gruber and Joe are often held alongside bands such as Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins as having produced some Morello, to seminal studio and session guys such as Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon. As we of the best albums of the 1990s. The drummers from these bands need little introduction. In contrast, wereW on the thread of famous drummers, I ask how he feels about his own status as a musician. this was Richard’s first drum interview. “I didn’t really think of myself as a drummer as such. I never really rated my own playing so I never I was surprised when he told me this. If you listen to any Belle and Sebastian album, you’ll hear how thought of myself as a professional. I suppose in the last few years, touring with other bands, I started the drums sit under the vocals and melody with a reserved tastefulness that many may argue is one of to that think ‘maybe I’m getting away with it.’” the most difficult things any drummer can accomplish. I ask him how he was able to do this having, essentially, no previous playing experience. Though he finished this sentence with a trademark grin, the ‘other bands’ “One of the key things starting out was that Stuart was such a quiet singer to which he refers are namely Snow Patrol, The Reindeer Section and and his vocal timing was quite strange. He used to sing quite a bit away www Tired Pony. All these bands are not exactly low key, and despite refuting from the microphone and use a vocal dynamic so we all had wedges on my remarks about becoming a session drummer, it becomes clear that the stage but it was feed back central. So, I used brushes - for years and years I “You’ve got to get catalogue of records to which he has contributed would make most very never used sticks, and I realised after a while that it’s one of the best things envious. I ask if he has any endorsements, and he replies that he only you could ever do. It’s unbelievable. It helps you play dynamically under better. No band quite recently became endorsed by Highwood Drums and Percussion, Vic somebody’s vocal. I used to get really annoyed and be like ‘I want to use will last forever, Firth sticks and Paiste cymbals. I enquire as to why this was only a recent sticks!’ But with hindsight, I’m thinking ‘thank God I didn’t’ because I so what do you development. don’t hit the drums too hard. I still have a lot of respect for the guys who can leather it though. I couldn’t do what they do but I don’t think they do after that?” “With Belle and Sebastian, the ethos we’ve had is if you’re never in fashion could do what I do either. So I did two or three albums using brushes, then www you’re never out of fashion. The Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, when it got to the point where we caught up with technology and realised ‘Fuck! they’ve been at the height of popularity that music has been the music We can use in-ear monitors and stuff! Oh Ok! Sticks? Wow! Ok!’ I swear of choice. They were big musical movements like grunge was. We came I rehearsed for two whole years with brushes (laughs). Crazy! in when Brit Pop was big. We were never ever fashionable so we didn’t have that profile. When you look back to NME and Melody Maker when they had a best musician of the year poll, all the top “If you listen to a lot of records from the 60s the drums are mixed low down, even though they might musicians came from the bands that sold the most. We never sold a huge amount compared to these not have been played lightly, they’ve been mixed lightly. So you have this top, mid, bottom and the bands and we were never as fashionable, so you kind of get left behind a bit.” drums are always lying in the bottom and Stuart was always into that. So I had no option to play like that or I’d drown everybody out, so the louder I play, the less I hear. It’s like an automatic response, I I set my empty glass down on the table. Noticing this, Richard promptly says “Staropramen?” getting have to play at a certain level or I can’t hear what is going on around me. I’m still trying to learn how up to go to the bar before I could give him an answer. His own drink remains mostly untouched. I to hit the drums hard! But you’re no bigger than the song, as soon as you’re bigger than the song then read this as a sign that, like most drummers, he enjoys talking about drums because he takes great you lose the whole point of it, especially the way Stuart sang which was quite delicate. It was always interest in what he does. Listening to him talk about himself as a drummer had made it clear that his about the drums trying to sit underneath him and to create a dynamic.” attitude towards playing has changed significantly since he first began. When he returns, I ask how he thinks his playing today has changed.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL www “You can’t be Peter Pan, you can’t always be at that point in your life.” www

From left to right, top to bottom

[1996] If You’re Feeling Sinister Dear Catastrophe Waitress [2003] [1998] The Boy with the Arab Strap Push Barman to Open Old Wounds [2005] [2000] Fold your Hands Child, you Walk The Life Pursuit [2006] like a Peasant Belle & Sebastian Write about Love [2010] [2002] Storytelling 40

“I maybe still kept a little bit of something from the first two albums but I’m a world away in terms said which would work with a click and songs that wouldn’t. With the most recent album (Belle and of being relaxed, which is the biggest key, and just being comfortable in my surroundings. I know Sebastian Write About Love), we pretty much did most things with a click which is very unlike Belle exactly what to expect as the chemistry in the band has been created over 15 years now. In the studio, and Sebastian. I was crap at it for years. I don’t know what happened but I managed to get my head I mean, for me anyway, now I’m so comfortable with it that you can actually concentrate on the song around it. I practice a lot with clicks now just on a practice pad. I wish I’d started doing it a lot earlier, instead of freaking out about ‘am I playing this right?’ All of a sudden that’s out of the window and it’s though when we started out the band was the antithesis of click tracks so there is no way I would have just like ‘relax, totally let it go, and be confident with what’s going on’ rather than thinking a million touched it, but I’m glad in the last wee while I started to use a metronome because you quite quickly things which is a bad sign. I think then it was about being in a band and being in a gang, whereas now get into it and start naturally being able to play along with it. I want to have a career in it, I want to be playing until I die kinda thing, because to do that you’ve got to get better. No band will last forever, so what do you do after that? “Fills and stuff can be quite hard because if you go from a verse to a chorus it’s an exciting part of the song so naturally you speed up, and that’s great, but with a click you learn how to reign it in. A “We started using clicks which is something we never did before. There were always certain songs I chorus is more exciting than a verse, that’s the way it is, that’s rock and roll from the 1950s onwards, that’s the exciting bit of music, it’s like…big fill!” (Mimes a big six stroke fill complete with duh-duh- duh-duh-duh-duh sound effect.) “It’s bang, and you’re in. That’s what it should do but with the click it’s different. It’s a bit more difficult because you’re still trying to do that but flatline it as well. There’s Promo Poster: Belle & Sebastian’s ‘The Bowlie Weekender’ that ability to play behind and in front of the beat but sill play the beat, but not so it’s half a beat out, then it’s like ‘oh God!’”

Reflections

ne of the reasons that undoubtedly gave Belle and Sebastian such a loyal fan base was the emotional responses the lyrics and melodies would evoke in the listener. The first three albums, Tigermilk, If You’re Feeling Sinister, and The Boy With The Arab Strap in particular Opossess an almost cultish status in the Belle and Sebastian back catalogue. I was interested to hear, given many people’s strong emotional attachment to these records, Richard’s own feelings on what those records represented for him personally. I had read somewhere that Stuart Murdoch had reportedly said that he felt the songs he would be best known for were behind him, and I wondered if Richard felt the same.

“I think I didn’t really understand what was going on a the time. I remember the first time Tigermilk was played on the radio. It was Mark Radcliffe when he had a show four nights a week on Radio One, and he played it one night. We’d had 1000 copies cut. 500 went to press and the other 500 we just distributed by hand to independent record shops, so I never thought for a second anything would happen. Then, one night we’re all sitting in someone’s flat with the radio on and Radcliffe came out with a huge speech about it. It was nuts. I didn’t realise anyone knew what it was. With If You’re Feeling Sinister, the second album, I think I had more of an idea something might happen as it was more of a band record. The thing that is engaging about the first two records is Stuart’s song writing

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL because it’s all him. It’s all his ideas and he’s dictating how people play. I think that’s what makes them different from the rest, so by the time the third album, The Boy With The Arab Strap, was out there was a change in chemistry. The first two records are all him.

“I think the change was also about Stuart not wanting to take all the strain. I think Stuart got to the point where he was like, ‘The spotlight has been on me for two records, and it’s got to change,’ and I think there was a couple of people in the band thinking, ‘What are we here? Are we just your backing band? What is this?’ So it was suggested that Stevie and Isobel write songs too, which meant The Boy with the Arab Strap became the first record to be influenced by others in the band.”

“I think the first record, or the first two records you put out will always have something you can never get back, because you either improve or go in a different direction so its impossible to do what you can do 10 years ago, for better or for worse. For example, there’s one song on Tigermilk called My Wandering Days Are Over, I have this really bizarre drum fill at the end and it sounds like the drums are falling down the stairs, but somehow it works. I always try to replicate it but I can never do it. I think it’s some sort of triplet, bizarre, really bizarre, and I think I just dropped a stick or something and it just worked out.

There’s a few moments like that, I think it’s what made that record really good. I didn’t know what I was doing back then, but like what I was saying about the fill - I still can’t do it, I’ve gotten too far ahead. My limbs and my muscles have changed, everything has changed about me. Back then I had no real ability and no real control, I was just flailing about. Sometimes when I did something I’d be like, ‘What was that?’ But I can’t do it anymore! What’s more annoying though is when people say, ‘I liked your first record but I think you’ve lost it.’ Well, of course we’ve changed! If you’re making your first record to last your whole career, it’s impossible. You can’t be Peter Pan, you can’t always be at that point in your life.” 42

With the interview more or less at a close, Richard’s wife, Jolyne, joined us for a drink as Richard for a Nintendo, but in the end I don’t bother. What he said about Peter Pan makes me think I talked about his upcoming touring schedule playing drums and percussion for Snow Patrol. should move on and get over it. Instead, I turn on the TV. The snooker’s on. Richard’s right – it is Though Jolyne looked mildly displeased to hear of the tour’s extensiveness, it is at least a sign that often funny how things work out, though I imagine if you’re a Belle and Sebastian fan, you can’t Richard still very much appreciates life as a drummer. When I get home I consider scouring eBay help thinking thinks worked out well.

www

My Wandering Days Are Over [@ 4:20, 158bpm ]

GROOVE 1

GROOVE 1 X 3

GROOVE 1 X 7

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL

RETIREMENT Bill Bruford

Words by Tom Hoare and Iain Ballamy 45

ill Bruford has retired. His website explicitly states this The Drummer’s Journal: So what has prompted you to probe and kindly directs journalists to consult a reading list the depths of your psyche and ask the question most never before requesting interviews. The reading list is divided dare to ask, ‘why do drummers do what they do and what Binto several subheadings, each of which house the relevant books have I spent my life doing?’ and articles relating to the titular subject. These are: ‘Progressive Bill Bruford: What I always liked to try to do when I was a Rock In General,’ ‘Yes,’ ‘King Crimson/Robert Fripp,’ and player was make something of a contribution – no matter how ‘Genesis.’ If you were unsure of the scale of Bill’s musical tiny – to the understanding of drumming and drummers, what background, a glance at this list will testify to its extensiveness. they do, what we expect or want them to do, what might be possible or acceptable tomorrow. I guess you could call me a So after all this, what, having becoming one of the most respected ‘big-picture’ kinda guy, but you’d have to do so in an American drummers of all time, do you do with your retirement? Write a accent. After many years I realised I knew nothing about it, so book? Alas, the fifth and final subheading is simply entitled ‘Bill replaced my sticks with a quill pen and now live in a library. Bruford’ and refers the inquisitive to his biography published Maybe I’ll find something under the desk that I can share with in 2009. my colleagues.

I can’t quite remember how I discovered he had enrolled as a Is that question not a little dangerous? We can’t change the PhD candidate at the University of Surrey, but in all honesty, I past and supposing you are not happy with the answer? wasn’t particularly surprised to hear of it. During the last three Researchers don’t have to be happy. I’m framing a question, years he has adopted a stage of a different sort and has delivered which will generate a thesis, with several hypotheses, which I lectures in the UK, the US and Scandinavia, mostly concerning shall try to prove or disprove, and then I’ll need a pint. the drum set’s relationship with creativity and musicianship. His PhD is based on a similar theme. Are you a religious man? Well, I’m a lapsed atheist. I tried, honestly, but I’m just no good Taking heed of the reading list, I sent out an email. What at it. I tried shopping on Sundays, but I just couldn’t get into it. follows is the result. If Sunday is a choice between God and shopping, I know which one frightens me the least.

www Do you see the separate phases of your life with a sense of continuum or as separate chapters or even separate lives? I’ve always seen our allotted time here on the planet as a straight line but tragically short; over in a flash. So perhaps one of my many faults was to have been in too much of a hurry.

Do you feel a different person now you have stopped being a musician and become a student? No, much the same old Bruford. My broadband hasn’t got

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL any faster! I rate slow broadband as one of the key agents in the and underneath the serenity I suspect, like a duck’s legs below the struggle with wood, gut, drumstick, plectrum and mouthpiece demise of Earthworks. I was unable to buy plane tickets within an waterline, some are paddling very fast. remains intact. It’s going to take you 10,000 hours before you get acceptable timeframe. My blood pressure is probably lower now. reasonably good. But the context in which the outcome of that Attending gigs and concerts as a civilian is rough work, though. If you had your time as a bandleader again, is there anything struggle is ‘monetised’ - as we used to say here at Lehman Brothers If the music is any good I want to play. If it isn’t I want to leave. you would do differently? - is frighteningly different. And this social networking thing has got Either makes me a terrible evening out. No, it was brilliant. You hire the best guys you can bribe to play to stop. Luckily younger, wiser people than I don’t care about any with you, and get a free music lesson a nightly basis. Without of this. They have a laudable ability to just get on with it. What’ve you learned about yourself and others through music? exception everyone who went through my two bands Bruford I’m very admiring of those musicians who are at peace with their and Earthworks gave of their best with unstinting generosity. I’m Drummer jokes apart, is there an innate feeling of inequality contribution, and able to live with it. I became increasingly riddled getting weepy. Got a tissue? with other musicians or is that a thing of the past? with self-doubt, and the maggots of inadequacy. [Is that a good A band is only as good as its drummer, it’s been said. If the drummer’s name for a neo-punk outfit – the Maggots of Inadequacy?] For Can you articulate how you see the scene and orientation of a hopeless, you’re dead in the water. On the other hand, if he’s good, some people - Tim Garland, Gwil Simcock, Asaf Sirkis, to name musician as having changed or is it still the same as it ever was he can get you through a terrible evening. But yes, after decades of the last three I’ve seen - the effort becomes effortless, and the music but just in a different age? having their contribution denigrated, I think the drum community just seems to pour out. Appearances can be deceptive, of course, Some levels just the same, some levels all different. The age old generally - if I could be so bold as to speak for an entire community

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 47

- could be forgiven for having developed a small but tangible cause a whole lot of trouble. sense of inferiority. They’ve over-compensated, of course, by becoming highly proficient and often very successful writers I have never met another musician who retired. Nobody does and producers, whether you’re at the Phil Collins, Freddie that through choice, usually a musician dies at the hotel, White, Neil Peart end, or the Gary Husband, Jack DeJohnette, on stage, or on the road. Has this almost unprecedented the late Paul Motian or Peter Erskine end. So look out… and original act made your contemporaries uncomfortable

in that you have dared to do Are drummers disenfranchised www something that others wouldn’t? by computer programming and I’m not sure anyone is uncomfortable generic popular music genres about anything, least of all me. which deploy an ‘ever diminishing “So is there a Retiring, of course, implies that you selection of beats and tempi?’ can afford to do so, and I guess that Recent research from Bristol revolution around the can attract suspicion. I think too University confirms that popular corner? When and how many of us are obliged to continue music is getting louder and more for financial reasons only, which is repetitive. What drummers used to might that happen?” a shame. The stadia of the world do and should do is dynamics, but are clogged with geriatric rockers, there’s not much call for that these “We could start by who tend to prevent the emergence days. I expect my research to confirm banning the words of young blood. The older guys that drummers live in a world of are effectively institutionalised homogenised rhythm despatched ‘jazz’ and ‘rock’, and now know no other life. If within a diminishing number of which cause a whole they don’t get a proper hotel and a metres and within a diminishing wake-up call they don’t know what

range of tempi revolving around the lot of trouble.” to do. I loved Max Roach’s playing. celebrated 120 b.p.m. – the default www Someone sent me a CD of his tempo of much electronic kit when latest music shortly before he died, it comes out of the box. These are and it was tragic. I didn’t want to indeed challenging times for the remember him like that. You could creative drummer living under the tyranny of the backbeat in see daylight between him and the bass player. I never could see a commercial world, as I was telling the students at Kingston the appeal of dying in a hotel room. University the other day. The discourse tends to revolve around “is your hi-hat sample better than mine?” So in 70,000 words time when you have finished your PhD on why you did what you have done with your life, what So is there a revolution around the corner? When and how next? A trout farm perhaps? might that happen? I thought I might look at psychiatry. We could start by banning the words ‘jazz’ and ‘rock’, which

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL www

Where are the ads? Well, we made a decision not to include any in the first issue to show we’re not in it just to make a quick buck. We’re creating something sustainable, a magazine whose worth isn’t measured in sales figures, where each and every issue is better than the last; a magazine, as drummers, we’re proud to call our own. If you want to be involved or affiliated then get in touch. OUT ON A LIMB A Conversation with Eddie Prevost

n north London, a group of people have gathered outside a small, inconspicuous café. Inside, the café is dark and its doors are locked. There are murmurings of last minute cancellation and a tangible air of disappointment descends. “Doors should Ihave opened by now,” someone suggests. “It’s getting late.” But, despite the time, no one leaves and, gradually, the group of people become a small crowd. A light flickers on and a key turns in the lock. “I knew they’d never cancel.” People file through the doors and sit at a series of small coffee tables arranged in a semi circular fashion around an area where a saxophone, a double bass and a drum kit stand unattended. Lights are dimmed and candles are lit. It’s very quiet; the only noticeable noise being the faint drone of the covers band playing in the pub next door. “They should finish at 10,” someone whispers. I look at my watch. 21:55. 21:57. 22:03. Silence. Then, three men, John Butcher, Guillaume Viltard and Eddie Prévost enter and attend their instruments.

Words by Tom Hoare he next two hours are hard to describe. I can only liken it to trying to decipher the meaning of this sentence had the words been jumbled up and the letters twisted out of shape. This is Tmost likely because it was my first real encounter witnessing a totally improvisational free jazz performance.

Do not interpret my inability to articulate the evening’s proceedings as something negative. Eddie, like his fellow players, is an amazingly talented musician. As a drummer and percussionist he’s performed with an eye- opening array of musicians from all over the world as well as playing in his own improvisational group AAM. Though he would most likely refute it, Eddie has been at the forefront of taking percussion beyond what is thought conventional and has an ability to make a percussive instrument produce sounds that are nothing short of remarkable. After

the gig, we arranged to speak further on the phone. Here’s what was said. www

The Drummer’s Journal: I imagine you’ve talked about this at length, but what was it about the drum set that initially interested you? Eddie Prevost: I don’t think I’ve ever really talked about that before actually. I started off playing traditional jazz then modern jazz, and then got into some more experimental stuff. So the drum kit, I guess, is simply a means of expression. It’s something very physical that I like doing. It’s a vehicle I use to express my musical ideas and I’m very attached to the physicality of it as much as anything else.

Did your interest in jazz go on to shape your interest in free Title Page: improvisation? Top, Prevost, Don’t forget that what we now call free improvisation didn’t exist when 1984 & Bottom, I started playing. There were people doing these kinds of experiments 1979 for a long time, but a lot of it was under wraps. It was thought very un- Left: commercial and so very little was available. It’s only in recent times that inconspicuous the experimentalism of west coast musicians such as Shelly Mann and cafe, london Jimmy Giuffre became obtainable. 51

Was the socio-political climate of the 1960s anyway tied into what you were doing? It was part a zeitgeist and there was a sense of liberation. I grew up in the early days of the welfare state when education and healthcare was fully available to all. I grew up in a generation who had much more freedom than previous generations. We maybe took it for granted but we were living in a different world from our parents. More money was available and the economy grew because young people had money to spend. I was part of that. But I didn’t appreciate it at the time. (Laughs)

How do you perceive the drum kits role in contemporary music making today? I suppose in the latter part of the 20th century, percussion came to the fore. There were lots of new percussive and symphonic works –

Stockhausen for example, which liberated the drums as an instrument. Now they’ve been partially superseded by electronics and computers; www that’s what the youngsters go for to be adventurous. You can still be adventurous with a drum kit of course, but these things come in waves, and the current wave is bending towards digital technology. “he said ‘i can see you can play a bit, so why are

Do you still see scope for it to develop further as an instrument? you playing like this?’ I should have been insulted”

In what sense? www

Well, I’ve heard opinions that make it seem like the drum kit has had its day and there is not a lot more it can offer music in terms of originality, any more than it has done so already, at least. Is that what you think?

No. It’s just something that you heard?

If I did think that was the case, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to start a drum magazine. But it is an opinion I’ve heard people express, yes. Eddie Prevost Quartet, 1983 Ok. Well to say it can offer nothing more presupposes that people don’t have an imagination. The drum kit hasn’t become intrinsically sterile

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL or unable to be a vehicle for imagination – imagination can take on any vehicle be it a violin or a spinet. You can be just as adventurous with a spinet as you can with a laptop computer. The vehicle doesn’t matter; it’s still just down to the imagination and a sense of adventure. I reject the idea that just because lots of stuff has been done it’s all finished with because that’s clearly nonsense. But I do see why people might say that and it’s a very narrow view of creativity. You’re getting into the realms of fashion, where somebody seems to have exhausted an enterprise and so they go on and - I hate this word - reinvent themselves. What that really means is that they’ve run out of imagination and ideas doing one thing so rather

www than stick with it they just switch material and, superficially, can appear to be doing something new. The idea of being creative is not confined by the means of productivity or the means of expression. The whole idea of “Damien Hirst and creativity should get beyond all those stupid things. You should be able to the like. You can be creative with a paper and comb.

do all sorts of Do you ever see the drum kit as more than an instrument, in the sense things to make an that it can encapsulate certain ideas or trains of thought? The evolution of the drum kit is fascinating, because it’s comprised of the absolute fortune constituent parts from marching bands. The bass drum was carried by one and be treated person and the snare drum by another. In the New Orleans period they were brought together and assembled into a traps kit. Pedals were put on as someone quite the bass drum and a machine called a hi-hat took over the idea of hand

remarkable” held cymbals. It emerged into one instrument, but really it’s a series of www instruments all put together and one person plays them. So it’s a fascinating evolution and it got lodged, in the early days, with being an appropriate rhythmic accompaniment to the jazz of the time. By the time you get to the be-bop era, well earlier than that really, you get yourself into a situation where, rather than just keeping time, the thing has become a vehicle for virtuosity. Originally it was people like Baby Dodds, for example, and then people such as Buddy Rich, Elvin Jones and Maxx Roach. It became a vehicle where people could express more than straight forward rhythm. To the new sensibility they could make music on it. I don’t see why that should have changed. With the advent of Rock ‘n Roll and industrial pop music, it has got lodged into a specific way of being approached. I despair watching Prevost, 1970 and listening to a lot of current rock. Most of it hasn’t moved on in 40 or www

“For my money, the two things an improviser should attend to is, firstly, the idea of searching for new material, and, secondly, the collaborative or dialogical nature of the music, i.e. working

with other people.” www 50 years! There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’d be a travesty to think of that as anything to do with creativity. They’re just treading in the footsteps of those who have already made breakthroughs in rock and jazz drumming in the past. But there is still room for people to be inventive and push the instrument beyond what’s expected. In fact, many years ago I did a gig, similar to the one you were at the other night…

Yes, I enjoyed it, thanks. …and I remember being approached afterwards by a guy, I guess he was a drummer, who said “I can see you can play a bit, so why are you playing like this?” In way, I suppose I should have been insulted but I suspect he’d not seen anybody play the drums the way I do before. It begs some interesting questions about how fixed people are in their responses about what they think should happen with the drum kit. But it applies to all instruments. When a regular saxophone player, who has maybe had their training at one of these music colleges hears John Butcher, if they’ve not been exposed to those kind of musicians before they will wonder what on earth they are doing. It’ll look like they are playing a totally different instrument. And the same applies to the drum kit.

So you think drummers, as musicians, have a pre defined role in terms of what they’re expected to do? Yes, I would say that’s the case and there are positive and less positive sides to that. The drum kit has been in people’s systems for a number of years now and people come to expect that it should do certain things. It has a history, it has a tradition and people either embrace or reject that. All the great drummers have always pushed the boundaries and the reason you know they’ve done that is because we’ve become so identified with the sounds that the drum kit should make. Instead, it should always be evolving. That’s the beauty of the kind of the music that we’re talking about. That’s what appealed to me when I first got interested in jazz. I don’t know if you can go back to the point where you first heard jazz and the solos, but it was like ‘in the middle, what are they doing there?’ There’s a song then suddenly all this other stuff happens! That is, of course, the inventive bit. I mean, Clockwise: I’m simplifying it, but that’s the bit that intrigued me and will continue to Prevost in 1982, intrigue most creative people. 1973 & 1991

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 55

Do you think that improvisation, as an approach to making Sound is Innocent’ and that does suggest a moral dimension to human activity. It’s a contentious area, but my experience tells music, is sometimes misunderstood or misconceived in any the music. me that this kind of stuff means something and I’ve been doing way? this for a long time. I’ve worked a lot with young people; I’ve That’s a difficult question to answer. To be honest I don’t know. I wanted to ask you about that actually… been running a workshop that is now entering its 13th year… I am aware of incomprehension, like what I said about being But you do understand I can’t paraphrase those ideas over the approached after the concert before. Maybe the thing some phone? A workshop on improvisation? people find difficult to process is that if you want this type of Yes. It’s always been a fairly small arena because improvisation music to it be predictable then this isn’t the sort of music for you. Well, in short then, would you say that the musical, social exists outside of all the conventional habitats for music. For Hearing myself say it makes it sound a bit simplistic, but I guess and philosophical aspects of improvisation are very much example, there’s no room for it in the conservatories or in the that’s about it. entwined? market place. As a listener, you have to work at it. It’s not really Certainly for me, yes. But I’m very conscious that there are like the instant gratification you’d get from downloading the latest Can improvisation facilitate notions of right and wrong, or is people who, for whatever reason, don’t wish to be, as they’d put chart hit though there is definitely a growing global community it not quite as clear cut as that? it, ‘pinned down.’ I’m not quite sure what people mean by that. of people who enjoy improvising. This year alone I’ve done I think, most certainly, you need to think about whether the It just seems like they don’t want to recognise that there are any workshops in Budapest, in Sao Paolo and I’m going to Oslo fairly sounds you are making are appropriate. Whether that can consequences to what they do. They just see it as, in inverted shorty too. There’s a thirst for this kind of investigation and this embrace the idea of right and wrong I don’t know. We’re getting commas, “Art” - whatever that means. I don’t live in that kind kind of work. I think people find it more meaningful than what into some rather philosophical areas here. For my money, the of dimension. I think art and human beings are so inextricably the conservatories have to offer. I find that the workshop is like a two things an improviser should attend to is, firstly, the idea of entwined that you cannot divorce artistic expression from its refuge for people who can’t find what they want when they go to searching for new material, and, secondly, the collaborative or human manifestations. If someone wants to deny that art has music school. The workshop takes place more or less every Friday dialogical nature of the music, i.e. working with other people. If anything to do with human beings then they’re just living in in London. It’s open to anyone and everybody, and the only you’re improvising and you’re not looking to express new material cuckooland. But such people can do very well for themselves in thing that is asked is that you’re open minded and open hearted. as well as not taking any notice of the other musicians then I our commodity driven economy. Damien Hirst and the like. You It’s not a teaching academy, it’s simply a very friendly setting for suppose what you’re doing is wrong (laughs). Do you follow me? can do all sorts of things to make an absolute fortune and be people to come and play and meet other people. All we ask is treated as someone quite remarkable, but when it comes down to that attendees contribute three pounds towards the rental of the Yes, I think so. what it might mean to us in a grander sense, there doesn’t seem room. I hope to see you there! Exactly, if you don’t have a philosophy, if you just think ‘I can to be many answers. I’d say the same is true of music. I dislike do anything I like’ you’ll probably find that people will get fed the idea that it doesn’t mean anything. It does mean something. up of working with you. So there is a morality to it. I don’t know Precisely what it means is for each of us to find out. To deny that whether you know this but the first book I wrote was called ‘No it has any meaning other than in itself seems to be a negation of

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL

Rhythm as a Medium www

Words by Ben Martin 58

www or drummers, developing a sense of rhythm is important to become a good musician. This seems an obvious statement “Rhythm is the property of a sequence of events in to make, but I sincerely believe there is more to the word Fthan we give it credit for. Allow me to explain; I feel that rhythm time which produces on the mind of the observer is a descriptive force. As a drummer I give it a home through the the impression of proportion between the playing of the kit and, by developing technically, I enhance my ideas with the technical skill to carry them off in performance. But, duration of several events or groups of events of it is also through the experiences of practice and performance that which the sequence is composed” I continually develop my ‘language’ skills in translating emotive thought into music. Here, rhythm is the vessel carrying my ideas. Sonnenaohein Historically and philosophically, humanity has always had a www preoccupation with scientific experimentation and discovery. In the world of music, drummers especially will seek technical ability (the science bit) as the start and end point for their musical achievement. Perhaps a drummer wanting to develop their own unique style would do well to start feeding the pursuit of technique with creative, experimental and philosophical ideas too. This practice may be to become a better musician or just to enjoy the moment better whilst playing the best instrument in the world.

Through thinking about and discussing rhythm, I have come to think of my role and aim as a musician differently than just keeping time. I think of time as an abstract form which passes differently according to your state of consciousness. Music is something that briefly alters consciousness and rhythm shapes the dynamic flow of music. Drumming controls the momentum of time by sculpting the shape of the musical soundscape as it passes by.

This probably seems convoluted and to the casual observer music is either enjoyable or it is not. The point here is to, firstly, offer ways to enrich your experience and enjoyment of playing the drums and, secondly, to add another layer of quality to your Aristoxenus’ Greek Writings on Rhythm learning process to enhance your technical ability.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 59

Aristotle’s School: Painted in the 1880s by Gustav Adolf Spangenberg

www “The most fundamental error made about rhythm is that it is ‘an ordering of times’. The most fundamental truth about rhythm is that it is an ordering of accents.” Aristoxenus, Disciple of Aristotle.

www

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 60

Can a drummer have that much control over what he or she is find that you are more mindful of your place within any given This exercise should highlight that there are many subtle variations playing? The point is not to have control in the technical sense but beat giving you the confidence to add that extra bit of dynamics which go beyond perfectly quantised eighth and sixteenth note to create a different sort of control over the sensation of playing or push and pull the beat around adding another dimension to subdivisions. the drums. It’s the idea that you can feed you technical learning the rhythmic shape of the music. with a focus on a philosophical viewpoint. This can help you Use Dynamics Rhythmically: feel more open to creative expression while you are performing. Define your Control over Syncopation and on Beats: Using rhythm as a medium is just one concept that could feed Think of a couple of dynamic sounds or accents that work for this. You could just as easily think about cloud formations or Sit and practice syncopation against your leading hand. Playing you. Some good ones to consider would be: Rim shots, buzz hits, film soundtracks and apply these ideas loosely to your practice against a click gives you a clear definition of time to follow. A slow pedal hat sounds, (tight or sloshy) ghost notes or accents and regime. click is good for this as the slower you play the more increments ride bell sounds. Doing this on paper first will help you to work you will notice. At between 60 and 80 bpm try hitting the pulse against the temptation of falling into comfortable patterns. Listen to Naturally Occurring Patterns: precisely with your leading hand. Practice playing exactly on the beat and then begin to play slightly before and slightly after the Write down a well rehearsed rhythmic progression, groove or fill Use the record function on your phone or if you have a field pulse, creating a pushing and pulling effect. pattern of at least two bars. Now mark out an accent pattern recorder even better. Listen out for rhythmic patterns in your through it. Try assigning different sounds and voices to the every day environment. It could be anything from rain on the Couple in your bass, snare and hi-hats and try playing perfectly accents in the accent pattern you have drawn out. Now you window to cars passing buy or people’s speech patterns. As soon in time with your lead hand. Then, whilst keeping your lead have your original rhythmic progression along with and a longer as you start looking for them there will be no end to them. Record hand on time, practice the pushing and pulling motion again. rhythmic phrase spread over its duration made up from accents them and listen back. If you have music software or a sampling You can do this one limb at a time, in couples or with all three and stresses. app use it to create a loop. Just listening to this is good but you limbs whilst your lead hand still plays the pulse. There are endless could take it further and try to copy it on a practice pad. Don’t variations here and hopefully you will start to notice textural I hope these ideas will just be the start point as you start to think just copy the rhythmic patterns that you hear but also see if you things happening. about rhythm in a more in depth way. Remember that having can get any nuances from the soundscape into your dynamics. good technique doesn’t end at getting control over your rudiments You could also try to practice with your feet on the floor rather and can also be fed by your own creative ideas. Thinking in this Now expand it onto the kit. Obviously this kind of drumming than on the pedals. This way you feel the timings more accurately way can lead your drumming down endless new creative roots. won’t fit snugly into the middle of your band’s set, but you might as the sole of your foot hits the floor directly.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL

Tatsuya Amano www クロスフェイス [Crossfaith]

stairwell in Manchester University Union was never going to be the best place to conduct an interview, but it was by far theA quietest. The stairs act as a passage between two bars in which the average decibel level made the dictaphone act like a Geiger counter being exposed to enriched uranium. In the basement, the noise of a band sound checking emanates through the walls. An umbrella blows past the window. Stairwell it is.

Words by Tom Hoare Photography by Luke Douglas 63

hose walking up and down the stairs look unimpressed at the three people forming the chicane like obstacle that obstructs their path. One of these people is myself. The other two are from Japanese Thardcore band Crossfaith. Their drummer, Tatsuya Amano, sat more or less right in the middle of the stairway and causing the most disruption, is quickly developing a reputation as one of the most brutal metalcore drummers on the scene, despite being around 5ft 5” and sporting a head of hair of which Derek Zoolander would be proud. In all seriousness, however, search online for the drum cam to Crossfaith’s ‘Chaos Attractor’ and you’ll see what I mean - he doesn’t exactly hold back. To his left, nearest the stairwell wall sits Rew. Fluent in both Japanese and English, he is the band’s interpreter. Tatsu’s English, like my Japanese, was apparently “not great”.

The interview worked in the following way. I would ask a question, Rew would translate it for Tatsu, Tatsu would respond in Japanese, which Rew would then translate it into English. Most of Rew’s responses below are translations from Tatsu, but as Tatsu would occasionally stay things in English, I’ve decided, for the sake of clarity, to include them both in the transcript.

www

The Drummer’s Journal: Could you ask Tatsuya where in Japan he’s from? Rew: He’s actually from Osaka - it’s the second biggest city in Japan. There are so many cities in Japan but he moved and grew up in small city in the south. It’s kind of a shithole city.

I didn’t think the Japanese did shithole cities… Nah, they do.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 64

Oh. Ok. Well at least most places in the UK aren’t going to be too much of a shock then. So how did he start playing? Tatsu says his father’s hobby is playing drums. And when he was five years old he watched a live DVD of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He was very shocked by Chad Smith. So that is why he started drumming.

So he’s better than his dad now? Yes.

Has he always hit the drums so hard? (Lengthy conversing in Japanese) Tatsu: Yes!

Oh, so he speaks a bit on English then? He only really says ‘Yes” and “No” in English.

Right. So what type of stuff did he start out learning? Tatsu: Joey Jordison. Slipknot!

I imagine he went down a treat with the neighbours then? He says that they used to complain, yes.

So how big is the hardcore scene in Japan? Compared to the UK, it’s fucking small. I mean, mainstream music is just J Pop singers. I’d say that less than five per cent of people in Japan listen to extreme music. But, we are trying to make it bigger.

And is it getting bigger? It is, exactly. There is a Japanese chart, like the billboard chart, and their latest album, the Zion E.P which isn’t yet released here, reached number 27 in Japan which is amazing.

A lot of English or American bands, well, perhaps more so the classic metal or prog rock bands such as Iron Maiden or Dream Theater, go to Japan and do really well there… They do, yes.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 65

But there isn’t, comparatively anyway, as many heavy Japanese bands… Japanese people are quite heavily influenced by Western culture. There is quite a good metal scene, but not a good extreme scene. The metal scene now is about 30 years old. You know, people who just like Ozzy Osbourne.

I saw part of the video tour diary the band recorded on their last tour of the UK earlier in 2012. Did the tour live up to their expectations? I mean, they are still a kind of an unknown band as they have not yet released the new album here, but he says that they’d like to get bigger as a band. Bigger than they are now.

I’ve heard that the band enjoy drinking Jägermeister … Tatsu: Jägermeister? Yes!

Is he ever too hung-over to play? Well, have you heard of a festival called “Hit The Deck?”

Hit The Deck? I know it, yeah. Ok, well they played there last April. They had an early set, around 1pm, and once they’d finished the set they started drinking. Tatsu disappeared for 12 hours, and eventually someone found him passed out by the side of the road.

He has a lovely SJC kit, is that an endorsement? Yes, it’s an endorsement. He is sponsored by SJC drums, Meinl cymbals and Evans drumheads.

Does he tend to break much stuff? (Laughing) We can’t say that!

Ok, before he got his endorsements did he break a lot of stuff? Yes, he did. Actually, last night he snapped his double pedal. But we fixed it. Tatsu: (Nodding) Yes!

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 66

The cymbals on his kit are massive… Intimidating Guy attempts to exit through a locked door marked “staff only” Yes. He says they’re mostly 24”. Except the hi hats. He’s not sure 24” hi hats before returning to the bar. would be good. Ok, that was weird. (Rew talks to Tatsu). Tatsu says he also listened to 50s On the latest album, they cover a song called Omen by The Prodigy. jazz music. And that he likes to play a lot of air drums too. And his dream Those drums were recorded by Dave Grohl… is to be number the one drummer in the world. Dave Grohl? Really? Who does he think he is going to Yeah it’s true. have to displace to earn that title? Really? It can’t be. For The Prodigy? Dave Grohl? …that’s kind of hard to explain in Japanese, can you wait a little bit? I’m pretty sure he plays on that song, yeah. (lengthy conversing in Japanese) I didn’t even know that! Tatsu: Chad Smith. Yes.

Oh, well I was going to ask if that played any part in why they chose to Intimidating Guy, leaning round the cover that song. It obviously didn’t. door into the bar, shouts Tatsu: (Laughing) Dave Grohl?! Prodigy?! Dave Grohl?! IG: Excuse me, have you got an EP or Yup, Dave Grohl. anything? Tatsu says he didn’t know that. But, he has always liked The Prodigy ever Rew: Yes, we’ll be selling them later since back in the day. So it was quite an easy cover for him to do. tonight. IG: How much? At this point a guy who must have been at least 6’6” with ample facial tattoos Rew: £7 and a bullring piercing, wanders over. IG: How many songs do you get on it? Rew: 10. Intimidating Guy: Excuse me, are you guys playing tonight? IG: 10? That’s brilliant! Do you know I’m not. But these guys are (gestures to Tatsu) Down? Well I went to see them with IG: Who are you? Orange Goblin. I bought one of their Rew: Crossfaith. CDs and it had six tracks on. Six IG: Cool. Are you supporting While She Sleeps? fucking tracks! Rew: Yeah. Rew: Yeah, ok. IG: Nice one. What time is it now? Rew: Er, 5.30. Maybe we should move. Can we get a few photos or something? IG: Nice tattoos man. (gesturing at Rew’s arms) What language is that? Good idea. Rew: Japanese. They’re all in Japanese. IG: Safe. Catch you later.

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL 67

SUBSCRIPTIONS/ NEWSLETTER www

Like what you see and want to be kept abreast of recent happenings? Sign up to our newsletter and we’ll send over exclusive updates, developments and insights concerning the next issue, as well as any other matters occupying our small brains. We’ll also personally email you the completed issue four days before general release.

Have your say on the magazine by heading to https://www.facebook.com/TheDrummersJournal or by tweeting us at @drummersjournal. We’ll always respond.

Alternatively, you can peruse our wares or get in touch through the website http://thedrummersjournal.com

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL

WHITE RUSSIAN www

Ingredients to use:

2.0 Part Cream [add last, and stir to liking]

1.0 Part Coffee Liqueur [add second]

1.0 Part Vodka [add first]

Serve on the rocks, with mint

THE DRUMMER’S JOURNAL